SAFETY CONCERNS
No sidewalk and a steep embankment make getting to school tough
Kelsey Niles fears her child, Aidan, is being put in danger with what he has to navigate to reach the stop to catch the bus that will take him to his studies at Redcliff school.
TRURO, N.S. – Kelsey Niles feared her child was in danger the minute she laid eyes on his bus stop.
Her son Aidan takes the bus to Redcliff Middle School from the stop at 304 Vimy Road, near his home. To reach it, he must walk along a street with no proper sidewalk and a steep ditch, then cross at the junction with Brookside Road.
It's an issue Niles took up with the Chignecto-central Regional Centre for Education.
“I’m very concerned,” said Niles. “I feel they think my son’s safety is not important. They just brush it off, but to me it’s very important.”
Aidan’s stop itself is on a sidewalk, but Niles said he only has a narrow width of road shoulder to walk on and nearly none when heavy snow falls.
Niles was also concerned about motorists speeding in a 50 km/h zone.
Both Niles and her boyfriend James often walk Aidan to the bus stop and have already experienced “multiple,” near misses, when drivers hit the brakes at the last minute.
However Anita Edwards, CCRCE’S transportation supervisor, said Aidan’s stop meets safety guidelines. These include provincial safe sight distance requirements and CCRCE’S own walking distance criteria.
“…if you are concerned about vehicles speeding I encourage you to contact the RCMP as they can patrol the area,” said Edwards in an email to Niles on Dec. 17. “Unfortunately, many areas in Colchester County do not have sidewalks, Vimy Road has approx. three feet of shoulder to walk to/from the bus stop.”
Niles said during an earlier phone conversation with Edwards on Nov. 25, she was informed it was the parent’s responsibility to ensure their child safely reached the bus stop.
But Niles said she and her boyfriend only have one vehicle between them. Driving Aidan to and from the bus stop every day is not always an option.
Niles added her son is the only child to use the stop at 304 Vimy Road.
“I was also told for budget purposes they cannot add a stop,” said Niles in an earlier email to the Truro News. “It’s very unsettling that it’s going to take something bad to happen before anything would be done. Who wants that?”
Niles said she has been in touch with CCRCE since Nov. 25, in an attempt to resolve the issue. Aidan first started using the bus stop after the family moved into their new home on Oct. 31.
CCRCE spokesperson Jennifer Rodgers said safety is a top priority for all students.
“We provide and operate transportation services that are safe, efficient, and effective to approximately 17,500 students daily on approximately 200 buses over 700 individual routes,” said Rodgers in a Dec. 19 email.
Bus service may be provided off main routes on sideroads or in subdivisions, according to Rodgers. This applies to both middle and secondary school students, if they live more than 3.6 km from their school and 1.6 km from a main bus route.